But here lies the problem. A second Trump presidency doesn’t look much better. For all the justifiable criticism of his chaotic White House management during his first term, Trump’s “Mach I” economic program brought growth and jobs.
He has lowered tax rates on largely uncompetitive US corporations (Biden would like to raise them), launched enterprise zones that have helped revitalize dilapidated urban areas, and launched a war on red tape that has at least partially succeeded in stripping away the regulations that were stifling entrepreneurship. . It was a decent record.
The second semester will be different. Trump’s master plan, much to the chagrin of those who believe in free market economics, is to impose a 10% global tariff on all imports.
A trade war of this size would be disastrous, especially for the British economy, given that the US is the country to which we export most. The United States is the world’s largest importer of goods and services by a wide margin. Its total imports amount to nearly $4 trillion annually, ahead of China, which is worth $3 trillion, and Japan (just under $1 trillion).
The tariffs that Trump intends to impose could lead to a type of global trade recession that the world has not seen since the 1930s. Even if these tariffs were justified domestically, there is no doubt that they would be terrible for America’s major trading partners.
Modern times have never seen such a weak pool of candidates, and at a time when the global economy is growing slowly, it is too slow to handle the rate at which government debt is rising.